Information Systems Coordinator - Afghanistan

Organization

iMMAP is an international not-for-profit non-governmental organization (NGO) that provides targeted information management support to partners responding to complex humanitarian and development challenges. For more than 17 years, we have promoted a measurable change in people’s lives through our core philosophy: better data leads to better decisions and, ultimately, better outcomes. Our expertise in data collection, analysis, and presentation has revolutionized the decision-making process for our diverse, multi-sectoral partners who seek enhanced coordination and sustainable solutions through information management. iMMAP’s mission is to be the first port of call for information and knowledge management expertise within the humanitarian and development community.

iMMAP was formed in late 1998 to lead the first internationally coordinated effort to combine information management, sociology, and geographic information system (GIS) technology to define the scourge of landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) and measure their impact on communities. In 2001 the United Nations asked iMMAP to take what it had learned and developed in addressing the ERW threat and apply this to coordinating humanitarian activities in Afghanistan. Since that time, iMMAP has deployed at the request of the United Nations and international donors to most major humanitarian crises on the global scene.

Scope of Work

The Information Systems (IS) Coordinator position will have the main responsibility of providing direct technical supervision of the ReportHub and ASDC platforms and will support iMMAP in the revamping, redevelopment, and relaunching activities/projects currently implemented for the platforms. The IS coordinator will ensure that all required technology upgrades for Report Hub and ASDC to make the systems more innovative, flexible, and adaptable to emerging needs in humanitarian programming.

The Information Systems Coordinator will report to the Country Representative and work under the technical supervision of the Technical Advisor in Afghanistan. The candidate will oversee the management of iMMAP online platforms ReportHub and the Afghanistan Spatial Data Center (ASDC). The Information Systems Coordinator supports all goals and strategies of the iMMAP Afghanistan Program. They proactively engage with various partners to propose a new system and IM solution to respond to the challenges specific to the Afghanistan context in terms of coordination of the response and improvement of the disaster risk reduction (DRR) capacities within the humanitarian community.

The Information Systems Coordinator will develop and maintain constant and good relationships with humanitarian partners, alongside working harmoniously with the iMMAP team members. Additionally, the candidate will technically supervise their team and ensure the quality of the services delivered to the partners according to iMMAP standards. They will report to the Country Representative and work under the supervision of the Technical Advisor. They will also work in close collaboration with the iMMAP Chief Technology Officer (CTO).

Responsabilities

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

•  Work with the iMMAP Afghanistan IM team to identify needs that could be addressed by the IM systems/platforms.
• Maintain and develop the IM systems/platforms, and improve the IM support, coordination, and DRR support provided to the Humanitarian Clusters, OCHA, BHA implementing partners, and others in a timely and efficient manner.
• Participate in any relevant meetings with the IM team, Technical Advisor, and Country Representative to share updates on ongoing related activities and promote good practices in the organization.
• Promote the effective use of the designated coordination and DRR platforms, including the production and dissemination of situation reports, newsletters, infographics, maps, and application tools.
• Adhere to iMMAP branding guidelines for all iMMAP products and correspondences.
• Propose innovative platform functionalities, new systems, and solutions to partners.
• Perform additional duties as may be assigned by the Country Representative and/or Technical Advisor.
• Participate and contribute to the concept note and proposal writing.
• Contribute to the design and implementation of data collection systems and procedures.
• Conduct iMMAP demonstrations and training sessions related to IM online systems/platforms.

DRR: SPATIAL DATA ANALYSIS TOOL (ASDC PLATFORM)

• Regularly engage with partners to ensure that their needs are identified and possibly addressed by the development of the ASDC platform.
• Supervise the reactivation, technical maintenance, and development of the ASDC platform.
• Coordinate with the developer team to ensure that the objective and work plan are respected and followed.
• Test new features to ensure responsiveness, efficiency, and usefulness of the platform.
• Coordinate with the Capacity Strengthening Unit to ensure the training and/or orientation for the partners are properly executed and documented.
• Supervise and the development and management of the databases and potential applications.
• Supervise, troubleshoot, debug, and prioritize platform-related issues with the developer team.
• Supervise/conduct the checking and cleaning of the topology of the GIS layers, consolidation, and documentation (metadata) of relevant spatial and attribute datasets in line with recognizable standards.
• Supervise/conduct spatial analysis/remote sensing to create new and useful layers.
• Supervise/conduct the management of geodatabase to keep the GIS layers centralized, relevant, and up to date.
• Create relevant documentation and provide capacity building to the involved personnel.
• Maintain an up-to-date inventory of maps and spatial data.
• Write comprehensive technical documentation.

HUMANITARIAN COORDINATION (REPORTHUB PLATFORM)

• Regularly engage with partners to ensure that their needs are identified and possibly addressed by the development of the platform.
• Supervise the revamp, technical maintenance, and development of the platform.
• Coordinate with the developer team to ensure that the objective and work plan are respected and followed.
• Supervise, troubleshoot, debug and prioritize platform-related issues with the developer team.
• Create relevant documentation and provide capacity building to the involved personnel.
• Test new features to ensure responsiveness and efficiency
• Write comprehensive technical documentation.

MANAGEMENT AND SUPERVISORY ROLES

• Monitor and analyze staffing and resources versus partners' requirements to identify opportunities or issues in service delivery or capability and recommend implementation of new solutions and/or improvements to current systems, if needed.
• Formulate, implement, and enforce organizational policies, standards, and processes to ensure all outputs and outcomes are integrated, secure, and compliant with relevant internal policies and rules requirements.
• Manage, coordinate, and provide leadership to the team members to ensure deliverables are completed on schedule following established timeframes and the expected outcomes are achieved.
• Implement appropriate product standards and output quality of work, its improvements, using participatory technical consultations within and among the team.
• Evaluate, recommend, and refer any possible training/capacity-building opportunities for team members for staff personal and professional improvement.
• Ensure compliance in area/s of accountability and data integrity within and among the team members, and report and/or resolve issues of non-compliance thereof.
• Train, mentor, supervise, counsel, discipline, and recommend termination of assigned staff or hire new team member/s as appropriate.

Requirements

EDUCATION

Graduate of an Institute or University in the field of Information Technology, Information Management, Geography, GIS, or Computer Sciences.

EXPERIENCE

• A minimum of 5 years of progressively responsible experience in humanitarian information management, GIS, remote sensing, and database management/administration.
• Experience in collaboration and partnership with humanitarian actors (Clusters, INGOs, NGOs…)
• Advanced knowledge of programming theory and relational database principles.
• Advanced knowledge of software engineering theory and applications would be an asset.

SOFT SKILLS

• Ability to coordinate with UN, INGOs, NGOs.
• Ability to work under pressure and long hours at different locations.
• Flexible and adaptable to any situation.
• Self-reliant and able to work independently.

TECHNICAL SKILLS

• Advanced data collection, data wrangling and analysis experience using Power Query, Python, and R.
• Structured Query Language (SQL) programming language is required to maintain relational databases.
• Remote sensing methods and tools for gathering information from sources like satellite imageries, satellite data analysis for disasters such as floods, drought, earthquakes, storms, etc.
• Photogrammetry skills for capturing and analyzing spatial information from airborne and satellite surveys, generating maps that can be layered with GIS data.
• Knowledge of ESRI technical products and tools.
• GIS database management knowledge, especially expert knowledge in using PostGIS, PostgreSQL Web map server solutions, especially expert knowledge in using GeoServer, MapServer, and Mapnik, etc.
• Google Earth Engine expert knowledge is highly desirable, and satellite data geospatial analysis and visualization are required for this position.
• Python programming language for GIS and remote sensing analysis and managing relational databases.

SOFTWARE

• ArcGIS
• QGIS
•  PHP and HTML
• GIS systems and supporting software ESRI ArcMap10.2

Guiding Principles

Personnel is expected to conduct itself in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and iMMAP’s policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all Countries.

iMMAP has zero-tolerance for sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, human trafficking, child abuse and exploitation. Any violations of these principles and policies will be treated as serious misconduct.

iMMAP is an Equal Opportunity Employer regardless of background.